Coming Home

5th October – Monday

No sleeps left – we leave tonight on the Spirit, arriving in Devonport tomorrow morning at 6.00 am. Cat has been quite anxious all morning and had his overnight bag packed quite early ready to help hitch up.

The day has really been spent sorting out the “goodies” under the bed (there are sure to be a few children come to visit after school tomorrow), removing the remaining fresh fruit and vegetables from the caravan, deciding what to wear (especially after seeing the weather forecast for Hobart tomorrow!) and making sure all is secure.

We will take Aunty Pat out for a light lunch (we have eaten soooo much since we arrived in Melbourne) before heading out later this afternoon.

This is Pauline, Les and Cat signing off until next year.

Sunday

4th October – Sunday

Dinner last night was very nice – we went to the Aero Club at Moorabbin Airport. Fortunately, Gary and Sue knew about the dining room (so did lots of other people!), because we would never have found it otherwise.

Today we headed to Portarlington for lunch. To get to this town on the Bellarine Peninsula, we had to travel through Geelong – I think the Geelong Football Club must have won a football match recently! We also had a nice, warm and sunny day, which made a nice change.

We had lunch at the golf club with more cousins, this time it was Norm, Milton and Margaret. We spent a very pleasant few hours eating, talking and looking out over the bay.

The two hour trip back to Melbourne took rather longer owing to roadworks on the West Gate Freeway – very, very slow going in very, very heavy traffic. Thank goodness we didn’t have the caravan attached!

Saturday

3rd October – Saturday

The weather was a bit milder today, although overcast most of the time.

We didn’t do a great deal today – headed to DFO this morning for a wander (and even managed a little Christmas shopping). Apart from a couple of shops, most of the clothing is aimed at the young set and overall, prices are generally not much cheaper than normal.

This afternoon we spent a couple of hours with Les’ cousin, Wendy, and this evening we have going out for a meal with Sue and Gary. My cousin, Linda, is getting married today and Aunty Pat has gone to her wedding.

A Social Day

2nd October – Friday

A very cool and cloudy day, only reached about 15 degrees.

A very social day, first of all catching up with a couple we met at Cairns. They live at Traralgon but were in Melbourne when we passed the town. Therefore, we met this morning at Chadstone Shopping Centre for a coffee and chat before they headed home. An hour and a half disappeared very quickly! Chadstone has changed in the last four months, with a lot of shops being altered/refurbished ready for new tenants. The centre is becoming much more up-market – and much, much bigger.

After leaving Rob and Barb, we headed to Williamstown to meet, for the very first time, a distant cousin and his wife – David and Francoise. The solicitor and psychiatrist were an extremely nice couple and Francoise was very easy to talk to and understand, with a gorgeous French accent. They very kindly took us out to lunch at a lovely restaurant on the edge of Port Philip Bay – the food was divine! We have never been to this area of Melbourne before and were very surprised at how trendy the area is. Following lunch, we returned to their house and spent the remainder of the time talking about our common ancestors.

A most surprisingly pleasant and enjoyable day.

A Circle

1st October – Thursday

A mild but overcast morning as we left Lakes Entrance for Melbourne. Fortunately, the road today was mostly flat and straight through Gippsland. The drought has definitely broken in this part of Victoria, with rivers in flood and the farms very green and lush – very happy looking cows, too.

We realised today we were definitely getting close to the “big smoke” as the number of trucks and cars increased, and the road widened to a four lane freeway. We soon switched the two way radios off – truck driver conversation generally leaves a little to be desired at times!

We stopped at Moe for a lunch break before the final run into Melbourne without any problems. The circle has been completed. Aunty Cath and Uncle Bill will be having dinner with us tonight, as this will probably be the only chance we will have to all get together this weekend.